Garter



March 24, 1970 G, R. NQRMAN 3,501,774

Filed May 25, 1966 INVENTOR GEORGE R. NORMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oflice 3,501,774 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 3,501,774 GARTER George R. Norman, 4875 Countryside Lane, Cleveland, Ohio 44124 Filed May 25. 1966, Ser. No. 552,847 Int. Cl. A41f 9/02, 11/02 US. Cl. 2-321 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates generally, as indicated, to a garter and, more particularly, to certain improvements in garters especially with regard to the manner of attachment of the garters to the hose.

The usual hose worn by men and women except for womens stockings are provided with elastic tops for supporting the hose on the legs of the wearer. In general, though, the elastic tops are not very effective in keeping the hose up, particularly after they have been laundered a few times. Moreover, there is little or no elastic in the tops of long stockings worn by women and accordingly many different types of garters have been devised for use by both mean and women to prevent undesirable sagging and falling of the hose. However, those garters presently available are not appropriately designed to keep in position over-the-calf hose. Furthermore, they often include several wire clasp and button arrangements which are not only somewhat diflicult to attach to and remove from the hose, but are relatively expensive to manufacture.

It is accordingly a primary object of this invention to provide an improved garter which may be worn conveniently with over-the-calf hose.

Another object is to provide such a garter which is less expensive to manufacture and may be more quickly and easily attached to the hose of the wearer and removed therefrom than present day garters.

Still another object is to provide such a garter with a novel means for securing the hose to the garter simply by pressing the hose against the securing means, and which may be just as easily detached by peeling or pulling the hose away from the securing means.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

In such annexed drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of garter constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing such garter in the shape of a band worn around the leg of a person above the calf of the leg just below the knee for holding over-thecalf hose in place;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of garter in accordance with this invention; and

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate still other forms of garters for use in connection with girdles and garter belts for holding womens stockings in place.

Referring now in detail to the drawing and first especially to FIG. 1, a preferred form of garter in accordance with this invention is generally indicated at 1 and comprises an elongated strip 2 of a suitable elastic material such as synthetic rubber or a knitted material having a plurality of spaced apart hose securing members 3 attached to the outer surface 4 of the elongated strip 2. Each of the hose securing members 3 consists of a piece of plain flexible plastic tape 5 such as nylon having a multitude of catch elements 6 in the form of nylon hooks, extending outwardly therefrom.

Although four of such hose securing members 3 are shown approximately equally spaced around the strip 2, it should be understood that one or several of such hose securing members but preferably two to four may be provided. Moreover, the hose securing members 3 may be quite narrow in width or as wide as the strip 2 and may be of any desired length, even extending for a substantial portion of the full length of the strip as indicated at 3 in the FIG. 3 embodiment. The elastic strip 2 may also be of various lengths and widths depending on where the garter 1 is to be worn and the size of the person who is to wear it, as will become readily apparent in the discussion which follows. However, a strip 2 from one to two inches wide and twelve to fifteen inches long from end to end has been found to be suitable for use by most adults especially when worn around the leg above the calf as illustrated in FIG. 2. Further, the hose securing members 3, although shown stitched to the elastic strip 2, may be attached thereto in any convenient manner without departing from the present invention, such as by an adhesive or vulcanization.

When the garter 1 is to be worn around the leg of the wearer, suitable means must be provided for securing the ends 10 and 11 of the elastic strip 2 together. As an example, such securing means may be a conventional snap fastener 12 of the type shown in FIG. 1, including a plurality of longitudinally spaced sockets 13 secured to one strip end 10 for engagement by a ball 14 secured to the other end 11, thereby permitting adjustment of the size of the band formed from the strip 2 for use by persons having different leg sizes and desiring different degrees of tightness of the garter 1.

Instead of the usual type of snap fastener 12, a short piece of the nylon tape 5' with the Velcro hooks 6' projecting outwardly therefrom may be secured to one end of the strip 2 on one side thereof, and a longer piece of nylon tape 15 having an extremely high tufted nylon fiber outer surface 16 attached to the other end on the opposite side of the strip, as in FIG. 3. Accordingly, when the ends 10, 11' of the elastic strip 2 are overlapped with the nylon hooks 6 facing the nylon fabric 16, the strip ends may be coupled simply by bringing them together, since the hook members 6' will enter the fabric 16 and engage the loops thereof.

To use the garter 1, the elastic strip 2 is wrapped around the leg at the appropriate place corresponding to the approximate location of the top band 17 of the hose 18 when pulled all the way up, and the strip 2 is stretched somewhat beyond the desired tightness to facilitate securing of the strip ends together. Thus, if over-the-calf hose are to be worn, the garter 1 should be secured around the leg above the calf just below the knee, as in FIG. 2. In this position the garter 1 is most effective, since the large calf muscle immediately below the garter will prevent any downward movement thereof. However, it should be understood that the garter 1 may be secured to any part of the leg for holding up any length hose from above the ankle to above the knee.

Now that the elastic garter 1 is properly in place, the hose 18 may be pulled up the leg to the desired extent, but making sure that the top band 17 of the hose is kept out of contact with the hose securing members 3 until the hose is all the way up. Then'the hose 18 may be attached to the garter 1 simply by pressing the top band 17 of the hose 18 which overlies the hose securing members 3 against the nylon hooks 6, causing the hooks 6 to enter the loosely woven fabric of the top band and engage the loops thereof. This is in contrast to the relatively expensive and difficult-to-attach present day garters which require the insertion of the top of the hOSe between a wire clasp and a button and forcing the button and hose into the clasp.

Disengagement of the hose from the garter 1 is equally simple, it only being necessary to pull or peel the top of the hose away from the hooks 6 with a force sufficient to deform the hooks to permit pulling of the fabric loops from the hooks.

For holding up womens long stockings, the end fasteners 12 may be eliminated and the garters 19 suspended as supporters by stitching the upper ends of the strips 20 to the inside of the legs of a panty girdle 21, as illustrated in FIG. 4. In this form of the invention, the strips 20 need not be of an elastic material, and the securing members 3 are attached to the lower ends of strips with the nylon hooks 6 projecting toward the inside of the girdle legs 22.

Engagement of the hose securing members 3 with the reinforced top band 23 of the stockings 24 is made by rolling up the bottom portions of the legs of the girdle to expose the securing members 3 and pulling the top band 23 over the securing members, after which the bottom portions of the girdle legs may be rolled down over the top band 23 and securing members 3. The pressure exerted by the legs of the girdle on the top band of the stockings causes the Velcro hooks 6 to penetrate the top band 23 thereby locking the stockings in place and without leaving any lumps or bulges which might show through outer garments. Several such garters 19 may be suspended from each leg of the girdle and preferably at least one in front and one in the back of each leg. Special care should be taken to avoid contact between the hose securing members 3 and the sheer part of the stockings 24 to eliminate the possibility of snags.

The garters 19 may be suspended from other undergarments as well, such as from a garter belt 25 as in the FIG. 6 embodiment. Or the garters 26 may be in the form of an underflap 27 stitched to the inside of the legs of a panty girdle with several circumferentially spaced securing members 3 attached to the outer face of the underfiap, as in FIG. 5. The manner of attaching the hose to the garters 26 is the same as the garters 19.

From the above discussion, it can now be seen that the various forms of garters of the present invention are of a unique construction, permitting ready attachment and detachment of the hose therefrom in a new and novel manner. The garters may be used for holding up hose of any length from above the ankle to above the knee, and it makes no difference whether the hose have elastic tops or not. Accordingly, if such garters are used all of the time, the hose can be manufactured without elastic tops. Moreover, even if the hose have elastic tops, they soon loose their effectiveness, especially when laundered a few times. Garters are usually made of a much more durable elastic material than that in the knitted hose and need not be laundered nearly as often as the hose.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

I therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A quarter for supporting hose on the leg of a person comprising an elongated strip of material adapted to be secured around the leg, and a plurality of hose securing members attached to the same side of said elongated strip in circumferentially spaced relation, each of said hose securing members comprising a piece of tape having a plurality of resiliently deformable hook element means projecting outwardly from said tape which enter the fabric loops of the hose at circumferentially spaced locations for supporting the hose in place until a force sufiiicent to deform the hook element means is applied to the hose to permit the hose to be pulled from said hook element means.

2. The garter of claim 1 wherein said elongated strip is of an elastic material.

3. The garter of claim 1 further comprising means for adjustably securing the ends of said strip together to form a band of various sizes around the leg for holding said garter in position.

4. The garter of claim 3 wherein said means for adjustably securing the ends of said strip together comprises a plurality of longitudinally spaced sockets secured to one side of said strip adjacent one end thereof, and a ball secured to the other side of said strip adjacent the other end thereof, said ball being engageable in any one of said sockets for permitting adjustment of the size of said band.

5. The garter of claim 3 wherein said means for adjustably securing the ends of said strip together comprises a plurality of resiliently deformable hook element means secured to one side of said strip adjacent one end thereof, and a highly tufted fiber material secured to the other side of said strip adjacent the other end thereof which provides a multitude of loops for engagement by said resiliently deformable hook element means for permitting adjustment of the size of said band.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,561,777 7/1951 Bernstein 2337 3,057,354 10/ 1962 Roberts et al. 3,086,529 4/1963 Munz et al. 3,256,882 6/ 1966 Huber. 3,372,438 3/1968 Rinecker 24-204 X 3,390,680 7/1968 Marcum 128-327 3,423,764 1/ 1969 Cassling 2337 3,426,363 2/1969 Girard 2-338 1,046,798 12/1912 Jones 2-337 X 3,128,514 4/1964 Parker et a1 2-311 X FOREIGN PATENTS 428,447 5/ 1935 Great Britain. 6,405,818 11/ 1964 Netherlands.

578,067 6/1958 Italy.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. V. LARK, Assistant Examiner U .8. Cl. X.R. 2-240 

